


Birthday Blues

by writingformadderton



Category: Rocketman (2019)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25882441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingformadderton/pseuds/writingformadderton
Summary: Taron visits Richard only to find out his mate isn’t doing well at the moment. He gives his best to comfort him, but soon realizes things between them get weird on set. So Taron decides to decorate Richard’s flat for his birthday and cheer him up.
Relationships: Taron Egerton/Richard Madden
Kudos: 14





	Birthday Blues

When Taron arrives at Richard’s apartment, it’s raining heavy. He presses the doorbell and has to wait for a short while before Richard opens the door. “Hey-are you alright?” he asks worried, his happy nature changing as soon as he sees Rich. His eyes are a bit red and his cheeks are wet and tear stained. He looks tired.

Richard presses his lips together and shakes his head. “No.” he says with a shaking voice and tears start to fill his eyes.

“Oh mate, come here.” Taron says and opens his arms.

Richard falls into his arms and buries his face in his shoulder. He feels the sadness welling up in him again and bites his lower lip hard, trying to hold back the tears.

Taron holds him close and rubs his back, trying to figure out what happened. Richard seemed just fine the last couple of days. But now he’s sniffing into his shoulder, holding him closely and hiding in his shoulder. He can feel Richard shaking in his arms and can easily tell he’s trying to hold himself back from sobbing. “Hey, what’s going on, mate?”

“It’s nothin.” Rich mumbles and presses his eyes closed. Don’t cry.

Taron turns around with him in his arms and walks backwards into the apartment, kicking the door closed. He pulls back and cups his face. “Rich, come on. You’re clearly upset.”

“I’m okay.” he just says and avoids Taron’s searching eyes.

“You just told me you’re not about a minute ago.” T says and Richard shrugs his shoulders. “You want some alone time?” Another shrug of his shoulders. “Want me to stay?” Rich nods, hesitantly. “Okay, then I’ll stay.” he says and slides off his shoes.

“I’m sorry. I’m just feeling a bit alone.” Rich says quietly and plays with his hands nervously. “I really don’t wanna talk about what’s going on in my head right now. Just overthinking.”

“We don’t have to talk about it.” Taron assures him and wraps his arm around him. “Living room?”

“Yeah.” Rich agrees and tries to wipe away a tear without letting T notice.

Taron glances at him and sits down on the sofa with him. “You know you can cry in-front of me?” Rich blushes and smiles weakly. He carefully rubs his shoulder. “I mean it. You don’t have to keep in all the shit going on in your head just because I’m here.”

Richard looks down on his knees and feels tears welling up again in his eyes. He felt like an idiot, crying over such a stupid thing. A tear rolls down his cheek and he bites his lower lip.

Taron cups his face and fondles over his cheeks. “Can I hold you?” he asks, not sure if that’s what his best friend needs now.

Rich just leans against him exhausted and buries his face in Taron’s neck as he starts crying. He tucks up his legs on the sofa and feels Taron wrapping his arms tightly around him. “I’m sorry.” he presses out, biting back a sob.

“It’s okay.” T assures him and fondles over his curls calmingly. “Shh, it’s okay.” he rubs his back soothingly and looks down at him. “Jus’ let it out, mate. It’s fine.”

Rich cuddles himself deeper into Taron’s embrace and let’s go of his feelings. His fears and sadness about the future. But at the same time, he feels bad for doing this, for letting it out in front of his mate who just wanted to spend some time with him.

Taron pulls him closer, rocking him softly, and trying to calm him down. What the hell happened? What was he thinking about that made him so upset? He grabs the blanket lying close to him and wraps it around his best friend, who’s now shivering in his arms. T lies down and pulls Rich with him. He turns onto his side and wraps his arms safely around Richard who cuddles into him. T plays with his curls while Rich buries his face in his chest.

Richard has stopped crying now. Taron’s presence usually calmed him down. He stays cuddled up in his arms the way he is, not wanting it to end and closes his eyes relaxing.

Taron recognizes the change but decides to say nothing. He loved cuddling with Rich. It calmed him down and made him forget about all the stress in his daily life. It made him long for someone he could hold and love. Someone…

Richard thinks back to what made him so upset. His day was okay but somehow he felt lonely since he got the message that his younger sister was engaged now. It made him feel like he failed in finding someone. He was her older brother. He should be in a relationship already, right? But each situation just never fit and it ended in tears every time. He was anxious about having a relationship, not wanting to get hurt again. And who would take him? Who would be the one for him? Something he probably would never find out.

“You feeling a bit better?” T asks after a while and looks down at him.

“Yes, thank you.” he says and smiles up to him bravely.

“You know you can talk to me about it if you want to.” he offers again.

Rich shakes his head. “It’s stupid. But thanks mate.” he says.

“Nothing that upsets you is stupid, Richie.” he says and it sounds like a promise. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I’ll tell you, just not today.” he says with a weak smile and stares into Taron’s blueish green, puppy eyes.

Taron fondles over his cheek, sinking into the deep blue ocean pools in front of him and nods. “Alright.” Richard buries his face into his chest again and T smiles a bit at that.

A few days later, they meet on set again and Richard looks a bit pale, tired even. “Are you alright?” T asks softly when he sees him.

Richard puts his hands into his pockets and nods. “Sure.” he answers with a forced smile.

Taron decides to let him be, but he can easily see that Rich isn’t really doing better than when he was with him a couple of days ago.

Everything is going okay for Richard until they start the scene. It wasn’t particularly new to kiss Taron after the scenes for Rocketman. It just felt different after he realized once more he wouldn’t have something like this, the true connection with someone he loves, in his life. He would spend his birthday alone, working all day and then probably drinking in the evening. Taron’s hands rest on his cheeks as he pulls him into a soft kiss and his hair underneath his hand feels fluffy as it rests there.

T feels Richard’s soft full lips beneath his and feels his right hand burning on his hip. Something changed between them since wrapping up and promoting Rocketman. Taron never forgot the drunk kiss they shared after the premiere in his hotel room. Richard did, never mentioning it again and no hint of Taron brought it back to him.

When Richard pulls back and looks into Taron’s beautiful eyes, he feels the tears beginning to burn in his eyes. T watches him intensely while staying in character and the director yells cut. Rich lets go off him immediately.

Taron bites his lip and glances at him confused. What the hell was going on with him? They take a break and he watches Richard walk off while fumbling for his cigarettes. Since when did he start smoking again? He follows him after a moment and finds him outside smoking. Taron leans sideways against the wall and watches him with raised eyebrows. “What did I do?”

“What?” Richard asks nervously.

“What did I do?” he repeats himself.

“How do you mean?” he asks and raises his eyebrows, taking a deep draw.

“This here.” he says and points at the cigarette. “The tears in your eyes like two minutes ago.”

Rich sighs and puts out his cigarette uncomfortably. “It’s nothing, T. And you did nothing.”

“Of course.” he says and rolls his eyes. “I’ll talk to you again when you tell me the truth.”

“You did nothing wrong, okay?” he tries again and watches him carefully.

“Well it feels like I did because your behavior with me changed.” Taron says and shrugs his shoulders. Richard just stays silent and looks away from him, clenching his jaw. T watches him for a short moment and shakes his head slightly. “Fine. I’ll see you in three days for work then.”

Richard bites his lip hard at that and feels panic rising in his body. “Taron.” he says and it sounds scared.

T freezes at that sound and turns around slowly. He never heard Rich say his name that full of fear before.

“I promise you it has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong.”

Taron watches him for a moment and feels his irritation float aside. “Okay then.” he says and nods slowly.

A few days later, it’s the 18th of June and Taron has an idea how to maybe cheer up Richard. He knows his Scottish mate would be working on set today, so he packs all the stuff he bought yesterday into his car and drives to Richard’s apartment.

Taron places the cake on the table and puts some candles in it. He hung up balloons at the wall, bright colors, and hung up a banner saying “Happy Birthday”. Knowing Richard should be home in about five minutes, he makes himself busy in the kitchen, lightening all the candles.

Richard comes home tired from work and his body hurting from exhaustion. He just wants to curl up in bed and sleep. Rich kicks off his shoes and doesn’t notice Taron as he puts his keys into the bowl. He runs his hand through his hair and walks down the hallway, noticing the light in the living room being turned on. He frowns as he sees Taron stepping out of the kitchen. “What are you -?”

“Just follow me.” T says and Richard does, T chuckling at his confused nature.

Richard follows him into the living room and sees the decorated walls and the balloons. He turns to Taron surprised. “When did you do this?!”

“While you were at work.” Taron says and sees a smile settling on Richard’s lips. “There it is.” he says and smirks at him while patting his cheek shortly.

“What are you even doing here?” Richard asks confused.

“Listen, you didn’t tell me what’s going on but I decided to cheer you up and spend your birthday with you. Me taking care of you is a fact of life you’re just gonna have to deal with.” he states and sees Richard’s face soften.

“I love you.” he says and his eyes widen in shock when he realizes what he just said.

“I love you too.” Taron says and watches him closely. Richard couldn’t have meant it like a friend or family would say it. His shocked look told him differently.

They look at each other for a moment before Richard reaches out for his hand hesitating and Taron interlocks their fingers. They look down at their hands before looking up and sinking into each other’s eyes. A calm ocean blue meeting a bright blueish green. Looking at each other’s safe place.

“I mean it.” Rich says lowly and Taron nods.

“I know.” he just mumbles and grabs Richard’s other hand fondling over his knuckles. “Since the day we first kissed.”

Richard just smiles at that and closes the gap between them stepping close. He looks down at Taron and lets his eyes wander all over his face. “Can I kiss you again?”  
A wide smile spreads all over Taron’s face and his eyes light up happily. He cups Richard’s face and connects their lips in a gentle kiss.

Richard wraps his arms around him and pulls him close, fully embracing the kiss. He walks them backwards to the sofa and sits down, pulling Taron down on his lap without breaking the kiss.

Taron straddles his lap and continues kissing Richard soft and gentle, making them both long for more. He moans softly as Richard tangles his hand in his hair and pulls at it a bit. He pulls back for a moment and giggles softly looking down at him. “I love you.” he whispers.

Rich smiles at him adoringly and fondles over his cheek. “I love you too.” he whispers back and feels tears burning in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” T asks softly and fondles over his hair, calmingly.

“I was overthinking about how I’d never have someone who loves me enough to be in a relationship in me.” he admits and feels embarrassed.

“Aw, come on. You’re amazing and look stunning. Of course you’d find someone.”. T answers.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think I’d get someone like you.” he says and Taron’s face softens.

“You’re adorable.” he giggles and kisses him quickly. “You’re stuck with me now.”

Rich just smirks and plants a soft kiss onto his forehead. “There’s nothing I’d want more. That’s the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten.”

“Happy birthday, love.” Taron smirks.


End file.
